A mysterious, exhaust-like odor prompted the temporary closure of an operating room at UVM Medical Center’s Fanny Allen campus Wednesday, as more than a dozen hospital staff reported feeling “sick to their stomach.”
Staff members first experienced symptoms at the end of a surgery around 1 p.m., according to UVMMC officials. They say there was no impact to the patient.
Staff reported noticing “the smell of exhaust, or something that smelled like fumes,” according to UVMMC Vice President for Hospital Services Dawn LeBaron.
In total, 17 hospital staff members went to the urgent care facility on site at Fanny Allen for evaluation and treatment, “out of an abundance of caution,” LeBaron said.
Hospital officials do not know what caused the odor or the symptoms.
The Colchester Fire Department was called in to respond and found “no detectable readings of carbon monoxide,” according to LeBaron. The operating room doors had been opened and patients had been cleared from the area when firefighters arrived.
The incident has left hospital staff “puzzled” by the smell, where it came from and why staff felt sick. As of Friday afternoon, LeBaron couldn’t explain what caused the sudden smell of fumes to come on so suddenly. There is no source of exhaust near the five operating rooms at Fanny Allen, she said.
All of the operating rooms at Fanny Allen are controlled by one air handling system, which changes the air in the rooms 20 times every hour, making it hard to pinpoint the source of the problem.
The air system was checked and filters were changed Thursday, but nothing was found out of the ordinary, according to LeBaron.
“We have tried to figure out any other sources that might be the culprit and so far, it’s a puzzle,” LeBaron said.
The affected operating room was closed for the rest of the day, but did not impact any planned surgeries, according to LeBaron. It was back in use Thursday morning, she said.
LeBaron said hospital staff are still investigating the source. To make sure all possible causes are explored, she said they will likely hire third-party professionals to look more closely at the air systems.
While the cause of the sudden illness is unknown, hospital staff “immediately” installed real-time carbon monoxide detectors in all the operating rooms and the control room, LeBaron said.
Even though carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, it is a common byproduct of combustion-based appliances.
There were no carbon monoxide detectors in the operating rooms at Fanny Allen, which LeBaron said is common practice for hospitals because of how often the air changes and the absence of combustion appliances near the rooms.
With the newly installed alarms, LeBaron says the medical facility will be aware immediately if there is an elevated level of carbon monoxide.
“If we had a recurrence of CO, for example, if we thought that’s what it was and there was CO exposure, those alarms would sound immediately, and we would be able to respond accordingly,” LeBaron said.
LeBaron said staff members will continue to try to figure out what caused the odor.
“We want people to feel safe and comfortable in the place they work,” she said.
Ben Truman, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health, said he was unaware of the incident until VTDigger called. On Friday afternoon, he was waiting to learn more about the issue from department leaders.
The union that represents UVMMC nurses did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
